So, it’s been a while since I last blogged; unfortunately high work rates, a cold and Christmas completely got in the way of the Internet, in spite of my meticulous plan. And then I went away for new year.
Every year it’s the same; it gets to the beginning of December and I realise that I have nothing planned for New Year’s Eve. It’s sad but true. Unfortunately, Norwich isn’t really the best place for me to spend NYE either, because I don’t go to nightclubs and begrudge paying double for a cab. So this year I decided it would be different. I booked a holiday.
Grabbing an early flight to Bologna and a late flight home with Ryanair, I managed to get three full days in the Italian city, where they do things a little differently. New Year’s Eve is incredibly sociable and inevitably filled with food!
Capodanno in Bologna
At around 10.30pm everyone starts to congregate in Piazza Maggiore at the centre of the city, where an effigy of the old year (Il Vecchione) stands. This year’s structure was called The Barrel Scraper, which represents all of the bad things that happened in the previous year. It is burned at midnight to ring in the new year and a new start. It’s very impressive. When countdown to midnight hit ‘uno’ the huge effigy went up in flames and the heat was incredible!
And then the fireworks started. And I don’t just mean the ones that were being let off in the street, but half an hour of an amazing display of all different colours. It was truly breathtaking.
Admittedly, the whole experience was a little daunting. Thousands of people were crammed into the Piazza and as I say, some were letting of fireworks in the crowd or throwing incredible loud firecrackers. However, everyone was rather good natured and friendly, so I coped with it.
I thoroughly recommend heading to Italy for new year – for more about Bologna, I will blog later this month.
